International vacations in trend for Indian tourists this holiday season

As a result, the growth in international traffic is outpacing growth in traffic to domestic destinations.

The holiday season is here. As Indians pack their bags, a few trends are becoming more pronounced — more and more Indians are now planning international vacations.

As a result, the growth in international traffic is outpacing growth in traffic to domestic destinations. What is more encouraging is that tier-2 and tier-3 cities are leading the growth this time, widening and deepening the base of holidaymakers.

The rise of low-cost airlines and direct international flights between important tourist destinations have catalysed international traffic, says Saujanya Shrivastava, group chief marketing officer of Makemytrip.com.

On the other hand, government’s UDAAN scheme, connecting smaller regional airports, has helped stoke growth of travellers to and from small cities.

So where are Indians travelling to this winter? What are some of the important trends playing out?
ET reached out to Makemytrip, VFS Global and Countryside Adventure Holidays to analyse their database and throw light on emerging holiday trends.
Key travel trendsEarlier, the outbound Indian traveller used to evolve gradually – starting from a group tour to Thailand or Singapore before graduating to destinations in Europe. That has changed. Indians are comfortable making Europe their first international experience. Demand for exotic destinations such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan and Croatia has increased too.

Here are some trendsExperiential travel: Indians are now looking for experiential travel customised to their needs and tastes instead of a plain vanilla vacation. These experiences include tea plantation visits, wine trails, strawberry picking, Bollywood tours, kayaking and dune bashing.

Price conscious to value-conscious: The choice of the globetrotting Indian, instead of being price-driven, revolves around a mix of convenience, quality and the expected experience.

Offbeat holidays: A growing number of Indians want to go to unusual and unknown places to holiday like Binsar (Uttarakhand), Spiti (Himachal), Rann of Kutch (Gujarat) and Kabini (Karnataka). Alongside, they are more open to trying alternative accommodation options such as homestays, cottages and tented camps.

Rise of tier-2 & tier-3 travellers: Amid rising income, aspirations and launch of UDAAN scheme, the number of travellers from smaller cities have grown in the recent past — both for domestic and outbound holidays.

Women travellers: The rise of women travellers —either solo or in groups — is an important emerging trend in domestic and international bookings. Many of these women are coming not just from metros but even cities such as Varanasi.

Young-at-heart senior citizens: It is now not uncommon to see older empty nesters on a cultural trip to Italy, or a guided trip to the mountain kingdom of Bhutan. The most requested services for this segment are said to include ground-floor hotel rooms, doctor on call, preferred entry to monuments, tour manager assistance and snack boxes.

The rise of International TravellersBased on patterns seen on Makemytrip booking platform over the past four years, here are some broad trends in international travel:

500% rise in outbound travellers South-East Asia and West Asia are among the most booked destinations. But Europe remains the fastest growing travel segment.

600% growth in travellers to South-East Asia; Thailand and Singapore lead the pack, Indonesia and Vietnam are hottest growing destinations.

60% YoY in travellers to West Asia; the UAE makes up 70% of the pie; Jordan’s share growing too.

15 fold growth in travellers to Europe; led by the Netherlands, Iceland and East European nations such as Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia and Estonia.

Offbeat scenic destinations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia such as Armenia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are becoming popular.

Indian low-cost carriers are giving momentum to traffic to cities like Singapore, Hong Kong, Male and Phuket.

Since 2018, a number of international low-cost airlines are helping more Indians fly to foreign destinations.

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